Lady Day Previews- Page 6

[Melissa25]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 4:59pm

I had to purchase orchestra seats for my next visit to this show later in April. If I didn't need to use the discount code, I clearly would have wanted to be in the Circle Club. There are no bad seats at Circle in the Square but now that I have experienced the show, that would be one recommendation that I would make. If you are on the fence as to where to sit and can afford it, splurge and get the Circle seats. When I attended the Wednesday matinee, most Circle Club guests were dressed in business casual.

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 5:34pm

Exactly what is the Circle Club. I got tickets for Table 5 which is in the second row of tables. I don't think it's the "free cocktail" seats. What should I expect?

[veronicamae]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 5:38pm

You should expect for Audra McDonald to be about 2-10 feet away from you the entire show.

[jdrye222]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 5:44pm

I have never so eagerly awaited seeing a show...
And I don't even care about Billie Holliday that much. I'm just a fan of Audra.
Does anyone who has loved it think that will be a downer for me to not really have an opinion one way or another about Billie?

[Melissa25]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 5:52pm

MarkBear-You have a table at Emerson's Bar and Grill and Billie walks through the table section a few times throughout the show. She may ask you to hold her drink or light her cigarette, etc.



Updated On: 4/4/14 at 05:52 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 6:53pm

I sat at the tables and it was great. But I doubt there is really a bad seat in the house. BTW I didn't realize that there was a fancy dress imperative; if so I would have been happy to oblige.

I could wax on about how phenomenal a show this is, how stellar Audra is, and how shockingly good she is at playing Billie, but it seems everything that I have to say has been said.

Almost.

The only thing I would add (at least i don't think anyone has commented on this yet) - and I mean this as a tribute to the performance - is not to expect a vocal portrayal of Billie Holiday at her best. That's not who Billie Holiday at Emerson's Bar and Grill in 1959 a few months before her death was. Holiday's voice during the 50s, as her Times obituary stated, lost a great deal of "elasticity." There are plangent lines in the play reinforcing this, and moments in which Holiday reflects poignantly on how an artist, how a person, must change.

But part of what is so extraordinary about Audra's vocal work here is that she completely gets this; her singing is brilliant, often heartbreakingly so (Strange Fruit is extraordinarily moving) but she is clearly holding something back. Still, she leaves no doubt in mind that, had the play required it, she could provide an impeccable vocal portrayal of Billie at the top of her game.

Yes. It may well be that Audra McDonald can do anything.







Updated On: 4/7/14 at 06:53 PM

[veronicamae]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 8:33pm

"Does anyone who has loved it think that will be a downer for me to not really have an opinion one way or another about Billie?"

I knew basically nothing about Billie Holiday beyond a song or two and still loved it.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 11:14pm

I knew nothing about Billie. Nothing. I knew that "strange fruit" was a song but that's it.

What I found interesting was listening to the lyrics and deciphering them as they went.

I couldn't tell you whether she was doing a spot-on impersonation, but I don't really care. It's not like I went to Rocky to see someone play Stallone. What's the point? Rent the movie. Or listen to her albums. I went to see the actress. And it was soooooo worth it.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/4/14 at 11:41pm

Rocky is a fictional character. He was not actually Sly Stallone. Billie Holiday was an actual person.

I agree with you that many people have given strong portrayals of real people without providing a spot on impersonation.

However, part - though by no means all - of what is so impressive about this particular portrayal of a real person is that the actor gives a very credible impression of capturing the woman she is playing; inside and out.

[musikman]

Posted: 4/5/14 at 2:33pm

jdrye222, while you don't need to know who Billie Holiday is in order to enjoy the incredible work that Audra is doing, it just adds to the whole experience to know just how spot on the interpretation is. I'd suggest watching a youtube clip or two just so you can have that same "OH MY GOD" experience that much of the theatre has when Audra first opens her mouth to sing.

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/5/14 at 4:53pm

You'd think all the passionate, eloquent comments already made would prepare one for this experience, but it still managed to exceed my lofty expectations.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 4/5/14 at 6:16pm

Was at the matinee this afternoon and loved it. I kept straining to recognize some part of Audra in the voice and the movement, but I never saw her. It was completely Billie the entire time. There was an audible reaction from the audience when she started singing - gasps, oh my gods, etc.

I'll echo the sentiments of others and agree that Strange Fruit is the highlight of the show, but the line leading into it is also miraculous. It's "They was pals to this black bitch and I'll never forget it." But Audra dips into the very bottom of her range to say it and it's so ugly and frightening that I was almost scared to look at her face once she turned around.

House right sees her in profile and from behind for most of the show, but Audra fills the room so effortlessly that it never matters. I was sitting in the middle section, but there was one moment I wish I could have seen from that angle. Billie drinks out of a glass, and since she was standing three-quarters facing away from me I could see her back but not her face, and her muscles twisted so violently that her shoulder blades met.

And the tension in the few minutes that she is offstage is amazing. I won't spoil what happens, but the uneasiness and sense of dread is palpable.

As far as the Tony goes, I think she's got it.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 4/5/14 at 6:37pm

"...Audra dips into the very bottom of her range to say it and it's so ugly and frightening that I was almost scared to look at her face once she turned around."

Yes. I felt that, too.

Part of what is so moving about this performance is the intensity of the emotions that she is putting herself, and us, in touch with. Audra McDonald has always struck me as such a wonderfully warm and magnetic personality, but she doesn't just sound like Billie Holiday--she FEELS like someone whose pain--sadness, sorrow, ANGER--has nearly overwhelmed her.

I can't imagine what it's like for her to take that journey every night.

[BroadwayBrat]

Posted: 4/6/14 at 11:51pm

I saw the evening show Saturday (4.5) and was blown away. It would seem as thought Audra can do anything.

As for seats, I was in row A, seat 224 and it was perfect. I would be cautious about going any further than maybe 226 or 228. Seats beyond those will have a profile view and backside view of Audra for most of the show. Row A is raised just a bit above floor level (Circle Club) so I had a PERFECT seat. There were 2 people in front of me, then Audra.....I mean Billie.

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 12:21am

I attended yesterday's Sunday matinee, and the audience got a special treat. Today, Monday, April 7th, would've marked Billie's 99th birthday. With the show being dark on Mondays, Audra asked the audience to join her today in singing Happy Birthday to Lady Day herself. How sweet!

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 1:02am

You're so right about her vocal work. It's so void of any selfishness. She goes flat. She holds weird notes. It's perfection. You're watching a woman on the brink of a breakdown.

And the moments she went off stage I was scrambling in my Playbill like "Is there an intermission? It says no intermission?!" So I Guess I got caught up in it all.

[jdrye222]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 4:29am

Just a fantastic performance. I was really impressed and stunned.

I saw PORGY AND BESS 5 times during its run so I had the pleasure of seeing how Audra was giving a fresh performance every time I saw it - it was never the same (though not so different as to disrupt things for her colleagues) - sometimes I found myself just watching her reactions to other people singing - such depth and generosity onstage. She's always 100% in the world of whatever it is she is doing. Some of her Bess ticks and mannerisms come through in LADY DAY, but much of that is the drug problems the roles have in common, etc - one imagines that Holliday could have ended up as a Bess-type character in different circumstances.... Not sure if this makes any sense! (I'm just typing late at night and spouting thoughts as they come.) I wonder if anyone else noticed the similarities?
(btw - totally NOT offering that as a critique of the performance - quite the opposite). I also found myself thinking back to her perfectly poised and moving performance in 110 IN THE SHADE and how completely versatile she is as a performer.... And realizing that SHADE was 7 years ago! Audra has shrewdly molded her career to deepen with her age and stature in a beautiful way that gives us these fresh new things every few years that we didn't know she could do. I can't think of another artist of her generation who has had the same kind of brilliant and varied career progression.

I MUST give credit to the band though - Those three musicians with her were also amazing - I loved hearing them just play as if we were in a jazz club at the beginning, and I loved how they seemed to be almost in her monologues as actors... I could almost sense how trepidatious those men must have been who played for Holliday during that time, how iffy every performance would have seemed - what a feature for them in a business that too often puts musicians in darkness. And the smooth transition from the music underneath the audience coming in, and finally the lights and music focusing down to tell us things are starting... Very seamless from a director who I usually consider to be a total clumsy mess.

I don't think the play itself is great in the writing of it - I'm surprised that it has been kicking around all these years... I can't see why I would care to see it without Audra (or maybe another stellar actress whose work I had seen before). I enjoyed it for her performance and for the band.

But all the accolades are true!!! It is quite an achievement.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 5:23am

Saw the matinee Sunday. Went somewhat prepared to be disappointed because of all the hype; instead, let me add my voice to the chorus. Blown freaking away. I had a Circle Club seat for Table 10 (very back near the bar)...when I went to the Box Office, the woman said "We had to move you, I hope that's ok..." "As long as I'm still on the floor, sure." She looked at the seating chart, smiled, and said "You'll like it." Turns out I was put in the seat that is closest to Ms. McDonald in the whole theatre (I was the person who gets to help her offstage). Still shaking a bit as I write that 11hrs later. I could see the tears in her eyes for certain songs, the raw emotion in others, even small nuances of how she carried her body different ways at different parts of the shows as she broke down...down to an ever so slight palsied tremor at the end that was so understated I'm not sure anyone beyond 20ft could see it. It was exquisite and absolute perfection, especially because it is not Audra we see, it IS a broken and defeated Billie. So much so that, for the first time in the hundred or so Broadway performances I've been to, I stage doored (and waited 45min doing so) just to thank her for the performance and for sharing her gift. Two parting thoughts: 1) Shocked the bejeezus out of me, but there were only 6-8 of us (and one was an usher) who stage doored on a clear and beautiful Sunday afternoon (as opposed to a storm or something) and 2) even if it may be a bit of stretch, get Circle Club tix (and pick them up at the box office day of performance). You never know when the theatre gods may smile upon you and give you the experience of a lifetime (the three women at my table had also been moved up when they picked up their seats).

PS Bwaylyric, it was special to be able to sing Happy Birthday, especially after she told the story that only about 20 people attended Billie's last birthday party, everyone else having given up on her and fallen away. After all, we can now say we have sung with Audra McDonald during a performance!

Updated On: 4/7/14 at 05:23 AM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 6:35am

I hope to be able to catch this, but I don't get to the city as often as I'd like this last year or two.

Can I just say, I don't think I've ever read such beautiful reviews anywhere, yet alone here! You have all moved this to the top of my must see list.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 7:41am

This is the first time in the history of BroadwayWorld (and AllThatChat, for that matter) I hope the performer in question is seeing every one of these comments.

[WickedGinger]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 8:20am

What are the chances of this run being extended? I am not in NYV until 18th June!

I am big fan of Audra. I am ashamed to admit it, however I first noticed Audra not due to her theatre credits but from Private Practice. Since then I have watched countless YouTube clips and would love to see this.

[BroadwayBrat]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 5:56pm

I also stage-doored to thank her and praise her for the incredible performance. There were only about about 8 people at the stage door on Saturday night. She was extremely kind and gracious and chatted with everyone for quite a while. Even after a great pic with her, I asked her for a quick selfie! She laughed and said "Absolutely!"
I asked her how long she prepared for the role. She told me she had been practicing the voice and speaking pattern for two years. I told her it was too bad that more people could not see the performance. Next I said "Someone should film it". She replied: "They are discussing it now. I think it's going to happen". Wow...that would be great.

Finally, I asked her (sarcastically) if she remembered meeting me in Boston during the run for Porgy and Bess. She smiled and said "Of course I remember you!" We both cracked up.

Audra is a truly a gifted performer and the kindest and most sincere Broadway performer I have ever met.

I Heart Audra!!

[DebraR]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 7:28pm

She is one of a kind. So talented, beautiful and appreciative of all who adore her. I took my daughter to one of her shows in Los Angeles about 3 months ago. After, my daughter and I with a few of her friends (all from a performing arts high school) waited at the stage door for about an hour for her to come out. Soon, a security officer said that she had gone a different way and was gone. The kids were disappointed but wanted to stick around just in case the security guard was wrong. 5 or so minutes later, a big black SUV pulls up to the curb and Audra gets out to meet them. She was actually on her way home but saw them and stopped. She was so sweet, must have been exhausted, but she spent quite a bit of time talking to them and taking pictures. I was stunned, she was so genuine and lovely. We will be fans forever.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 4/8/14 at 8:15am

Saw this past Saturday's matinee.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
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Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
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Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
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YES.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 4/8/14 at 11:36am

Seven Days, Eight Hours and twenty-four minutes.